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thewickedworm
09-02-2010, 01:02 AM
Just read the anthology focusing on the aliens in the 40k universe and wanted to jot down some quick thoughts on each of the stories.

Gardens of Tycho: Dan Abnett writes a story of a down-on-his luck biologist and a magistratum marshal as they team up to solve the mystery of several unexplained murders on a backwater planet. The alien angle is second to interaction between the biologist and marshal. I enjoyed this story because of the sense that you are reading about two people who have been out of touch for a while and are now forced to use their skills together to stop whatever is murdering people in their city. Mr. Abnett has always had a knack for writing interesting characters and this is no exception. I would definately like to read more about these two characters.

Fear Itself: This is a story about a group of imperial guardsmen fighting off a tyranid invasion. As with more stories involving tyranid invasions, things do go to well for our guardsmen. *nom nom nom nom* The story focuses on the psycholocial effects of fighting a seemingly losing battle and what it takes to go back out and continue fighting. I thought is was an good story made better by the last paragraph (I'm a sucker for such endings).

Prometheus Requiem: Nick Kyme writes a story about a Salamander terminator team sent into a recently rediscovered space hulk to finish a mission long past due. Part of the mystery is finding out what the mission is. As most of you know Nick Kyme is the writing of the Fire Tome trilogy focusing on the Salamanders. As with most space hulks, this one is filled with genestealers. There is some cool description of terminator-on-genestealer violence. It also has the Salamanders fighting the Night Lords. In a cool feature, this story also ties into another story in the antholgy told from the point of veiw of the Night Lords.

Mistress Baeda's Gift: This is a story told from the dark eldar point of view about a dark eldar lord trying to court the powerful widow of an archon. I loved the way she constantly dismisses his advances, making him resort to actions of greater recklessness in order to impress her. Even though the dark eldar are cruel and vile creatures, I couldn't help by root for this hapless lord. The author really describes the dark eldar as driven by the need to conquer and inflict pain but at the same time capable of these extreme feelings of something like love, even if they express it by ripping the faces off of rivals or making ill-advised trips to necron tomb worlds. My favorite story in the book; no mean feat considering that I've always disliked the dark eldar.

Iron Inferno: Described as a story told from the first ever ork veiwpoint story. The story alternates between an imperial guard lord general and the fortress he is constructing and the orks who may or may not attack the fortress. I was a little disappointed with the story not because it was bad, but because I've always thought that the ork point of view would have been. . . funnier? There is no dialogue during the ork point of view. I was expecting the typical ork-speak that you find in the codex. Instead, we are given a straight up story of orks fighting humans. I guess there is a twist at the end of the story, but it is something that I figured out in the beginning of the story.

Sanctfied: The story of a tech-priest who attempts to save the day as dark eldar attack the ship he is on. I got a kick out of reading how a lowly tech-priest foiled a dark eldar raid.

Faces: I'm sorry, but I could not get through this story. It just didn't make sense to me. Perhaps it was because it had to do with the eldar Harlequins but I wouldn't know because I could only get past the first couple of pages before I was lost and my interest waned. I don't know what is was about the writing, but I just could not follow it. Did anyone else have the same issues?

Unity: The story about a Raven Guard and a lone guardsmand behind enemy lines after a tau invasion. The two transverse a ravaged countryside trying to avoid the kroot. I thought the characterization of the Raven Guard seemed a little off. I could not put my finger on it, but I thought that an astartes would not necessary behave or speak like the Raven Guard in the story. Perhaps I was hoping for a Raven Guard that was more kick-butt and less . . . frail? I understand that they are behind enemy lines and greatly outnumbered, but I would have like an astartes to have been written as the demigods that are usually portrayed as. There are very few stories about the Raven Guard and I would hve like them to have appeared as the unstopple killing machines they are.

The Core: The other side of the space hulk story. This time written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden from the point of view of the Night Lords. I really liked this story. At first, I thought it would be a complete retelling of Prometheus Requim but from the Night Lords point of view. Fortunately, we find out that the Night Lords were in the space hulk for a completely different reason. Mr. Dembski-Bowden gets the Night Lords; they are scavengers and he really makes you feel their joy when they get their hands on some serious booty.

Ambition Knows No Bounds: The story of a rogue trader exploring a necron tomb world. I did not like this story. The writing is fine, but I wanted to throttle the protagonist, a rogue trader whose actions [SPOILER] pretty much gets everyone but herself killed. First, the astropath who accompanies her is constantly telling her to go back but she ignores him. Then a group of eldar pathfinders warn her not to touch anything in the tomb. So what does she do but immediately grab a necron staff awakening every single necron in the place leading to the death of the eldar and several loyal members of her exploration party. She and a handful of people in her party survive and she immediately wants to enter another tombworld. The world of 40k generally does not reward such stupidity, but then again, that is probably the point of the story: humans are stupid and are just as much a cause of their downfall as alien races are. However, that the protagonist survived after causing so much death did not sit well with me.

Overall, a solid anthology that I recommend.

Tynskel
09-04-2010, 03:25 PM
sounds like the last story is the best story: Fate doesn't exist-- it is what you make of it. Nothing will come and bite you in the ***, unless you let it. Which is the point of Rogue Traders: they are creating their own fate-- which you cannot do!

SierraFiveOne
09-04-2010, 07:08 PM
Sounds like a good buy. I'm especially interested that there's finally a book out there with some Necron action. There aren't too many of those (I can only think of the Ciaphas Cain one off-hand) and I'll be looking forward to seeing my unloved first army finally get some attention. It's also good to see a book that doesn't totally focus on Space Marines or Imperial Guard like most of them seem to.

Thanks for the review.

thewickedworm
09-04-2010, 07:18 PM
Sounds like a good buy. I'm especially interested that there's finally a book out there with some Necron action. There aren't too many of those (I can only think of the Ciaphas Cain one off-hand) and I'll be looking forward to seeing my unloved first army finally get some attention. It's also good to see a book that doesn't totally focus on Space Marines or Imperial Guard like most of them seem to.

Thanks for the review.

Yeah, both the dark eldar and rogue trader tales have necron action. At least the depiction of necrons are consistent. Hint: they are bad mofos!

thewickedworm
09-04-2010, 07:21 PM
sounds like the last story is the best story: Fate doesn't exist-- it is what you make of it. Nothing will come and bite you in the ***, unless you let it. Which is the point of Rogue Traders: they are creating their own fate-- which you cannot do!

Never thought of it that way. I guess that makes sense from a 40k point of view.

SierraFiveOne
09-04-2010, 07:25 PM
Yeah, both the dark eldar and rogue trader tales have necron action. At least the depiction of necrons are consistent. Hint: they are bad mofos!

Oh thank goodness! I've always hated how their fluff describes them as walking tanks made of metal and murder, but on the rare occasions that they get any Black Library love, they seem to Yugos made out of cardboard and fail.

I want to see them portrayed as the dangerous killers that nearly wiped the galaxy out back in the day, not like cannon fodder.

eldargal
09-04-2010, 09:17 PM
Good review, I might actually buy this, I'd rather given up on BL books.

Baron Spikey
09-05-2010, 11:25 AM
Oh thank goodness! I've always hated how their fluff describes them as walking tanks made of metal and murder, but on the rare occasions that they get any Black Library love, they seem to Yugos made out of cardboard and fail.

I want to see them portrayed as the dangerous killers that nearly wiped the galaxy out back in the day, not like cannon fodder.

Read Dark Creed then, neither Chaos or Imperial Space Marines even slow them down.

Really enjoyed the review, can't wait to get this book.